Mike Corthell

Editor & Publisher at Fryeburg Free Press MEDIA

Saturday, January 1, 2011

'Biblical' floods continue down-under

Flood waters swept through vast areas of northeastern Australia Saturday, threatening to inundate thousands more homes in a disaster one official said was of "biblical proportions".As Queen Elizabeth II sent her "sincere sympathies" to Queenslanders who rang in a damp new year, the military was assisting deliver food and other supplies to isolated towns by helicopter.Up to 200,000 people have been affected by the floods which have hurt the state's lucrative mining industry and cut off major highways as the water rushes through sodden inland regions to the sea.GA_googleFillSlot("news_story_instory");"In many ways, it is a disaster of biblical proportions," Queensland State Treasurer Andrew Fraser told reporters in flood-hit Bundaberg.